单选题China is no longer ______ it used to be. A. what B. of what C. if D. which
单选题{{B}}Text 4{{/B}}
It has been a wretched few weeks for
America's celebrity bosses. AIG’s Maurice Greenberg has been dramatically ousted
from the firm through which he dominated global insurance for decades. At Morgan
Stanley a mutiny is forcing Philip Purcell, a boss used to getting his own way,
into an increasingly desperate campaign to save his skin. At Boeing, Harry
Stonecipher was called out of retirement to lead the scandal-hit firm and raise
ethical standards, only to commit a lapse of his own, being sacked for sending
e- mails to a lover who was also an employee. Carly Fiorina was the most
powerful woman in corporate America until a few weeks ago, when Hewlett-Packard
(HP) sacked her for poor performance. The fate of Bernie Ebbers is much grimmer.
The once high-profile boss of WorldCom could well spend the rest of his life
behind bars following his conviction last month on fraud charges.
In different ways, each of these examples appears to point to the same,
welcome conclusion: that the imbalance in corporate power of the late 1990s,
when many bosses were allowed to behave like absolute monarchs, has been
corrected. Alas, appearances can be deceptive. While each of these recent tales
of chief-executive woe is a sign of progress, none provides much evidence that
the crisis in American corporate governance is yet over. In fact, each of these
cases is an example of failed, not successful, governance. At
the very least, the boards of both Morgan Stanley and HP were far too slow to
address their bosses' inadequacies. The record of the Boeing board in picking
chiefs prone to ethical lapses is too long to be dismissed as mere bad luck. The
fall of Messrs Greenberg and Ebbers, meanwhile, highlights the growing role of
government—and, in particular, of criminal prosecutors—in holding bosses to
account a development that is, at best, a mixed blessing. The Sarbanes-Oxley
act, passed in haste following the Enron and WorldCom scandals, is imposing
heavy costs on American companies; whether these are exceeded by any benefits is
the subject of fierce debate and may not be known for years.
Eliot Spitzer, New York's attorney-general, is the leading advocate and
practitioner of an energetic "law enforcement" approach. He may be right that
the recent burst of punitive actions has been good for the economy, even if some
of his own decisions have been open to question. Where he is undoubtedly right
is in arguing that corporate America has done a lamentable job of governing
itself. As he says in all article in the Wall Street Journal this week: "The
honour code among CEOs didn't work. Board oversight didn't work. Self-regulation
was a complete failure." AIG's board, for example, did nothing about Mr.
Greenberg's use of murky accounting, or the conflicts posed by his use of
offshore vehicles, or his constant bullying of his critics—let alone the firm's
alleged participation in bid-rigging—until Mr. Spitzer threatened a criminal
prosecution that might have destroyed the firm.
单选题"Are you going to take the post Mr. Smith offered you?" "I don't know, but it is worth ______ about, isn't it?" A. to think B. of thinking C. thinking D. to be thought
单选题Although the false banknotes fooled many people, they did not ______
close examination.
A. put up
B. keep up
C. stand up to
D. look up to
单选题When do people start to plan for the Championships?
单选题{{B}}Passage Three{{/B}}
Most Americans today have some
insurance against long-term illness or injury, or the death of the family
wage-earner. Nearly all who work, including the self-employed, are covered by
retirement programs. Four out of five employees now have access to unemployment
benefits. The Social Security law, which covers more than 90
percent of the work force, provides a national system of payments in old age and
disability benefits. Over the years the law has been broadened' to give greater
protection in all categories. The Social Security system is
financed through a tax paid by workers and their employers during the years of
employment. Self-employed persons, who also pay into the system, are covered as
well. When workers retire at age 65, they receive monthly payments on a scale to
their previous earnings; reduced benefits am paid to those retiring at ages 62
through 64. Benefits are also paid to nonworking widows and widowers, to
children under 18 and to dependent parents. More than 35 million people
currently receive these monthly payments. Unemployment insurance
is financed through a payroll(工资单) tax paid by the employer. The federal
government provides money to the states to cover the cost of operating this
program; the states determine the conditions under which benefits are paid.
Civilians who work for the federal government share the cost of their pension
system and group health insurance programs. Most state and city government
workers have similar protections. The federal government also has programs to
protect railroad workers and members of the armed forces. In addition, all the
states have "workers' compensation" laws that provide payments to workers or
their families for jobconnected injury or death. The federal
government makes grants to the states to help them finance public assistance and
social services program for the needy and those who have exhausted their
unemployment benefits. The federal government also helps the states meet the
medical costs of the needy aged, the blind and disabled, and dependent
children. Millions of workers in industry get extra protection
through private plans offered by their employers on a fully paid or
share-the-cost basis. These usually provide sickness and accidents benefits,
hoptalization and medical care costs, disability and retirement payments. More
than 800 000 business organizations offer some such
plan.
单选题Which of the following is NOT tree according to the advertisement?
单选题 Directions: In this part
there are four passages, each followed by five questions or unfinished
statements. For each of them, there are four suggested answers. Choose the one
that you think is the best answer.{{B}}11-15{{/B}}
Television has opened windows in
everybody's life. Young men will never again go to war as they did in 1914.
Millions of people now have seen the effects of a battle. And the result has
been a general dislike of war, and perhaps more interest in helping those who
suffer from all the terrible things that have been shown on the
screen. Television has also changed politics. The most distant
areas can now follow state affairs, see and hear the politicians before an
election. Better informed, people are more likely to vote, and so to make their
opinion count. Unfortunately, television's influence has been
extremely harmful to the young. Children do not have enough experience to
realize that TV shows present an unreal world; that TV advertisements lie to
sell products that are sometimes bad or useless. They believe that the violence
they see is normal and acceptable. All educators agree that the
"television generations" are more violent than their parents and
grandparents. Also, the young are less patient. Used to TV
shows, where everything is quick and interesting, they do not have the patience
to read an article without pictures; to read a book that requires thinking; to
listen to a teacher who doesn't do funny things like the people on children's
programs. And they expect all problems to be solved happily in ten, fifteen, or
thirty minutes. That's the time it takes on the
screen.
单选题______ for your laziness, you could have finished the assignment by now.
单选题It could have saved me some trouble ______ about it.
单选题Few people are able to listen to familiar music without ______.
单选题A: Hi Mary, long time no see. B: ______
A. Hi John. Nice meeting you.
B. Yes. Menu, please.
C. Oh, I see. I've lots of work to do here.
D. Yes. Do you know I've moved to a new apartment?
单选题I didn't know the word. I had to a dictionary.
A. look out
B. make out
C. refer to
D. go over
单选题______ that my head had cleared, my brain was also beginning to work much better.
单选题 America's economic recovery remains uncomfortably
weak. The latest data show industrial production falling while the trade deficit
soars to record levels. To round off a dismal week for economic statistics, the
Fed (美联储) announced that industrial production fell by 0.2% in December compared
with the previous month. That came as a disappointment to economists who had
been expecting a small rise. Monthly data are always unreliable, of course;
there is always a plausible explanation for unexpectedly bad (or good) news. But
nearly all recent economic statistics point to the same conclusion--that
America's recovery remains sluggish and erratic. It could put pressure on the
Fed to consider cutting interest rates again when its policymaking committee
meets at the end of the month. The biggest obstacle to
healthier economic performance, though, is political. As the Fed's chairman,
Alan Greenspan, acknowledged in the closing months of 2002, uncertainty about
the future is holding both investors and consumers back. The shadowy threat of
international terrorism and the much more explicit prospect of a war with Iraq
have made many Americans nervous about the future. For businesses still reeling
from the speed at which the late-1990s boom turned to slump, the political
climate is one more reason to put off investing in new plant and equipment or
hiring new staff. For consumers, for so long the mainstay of the American
economy, the thrill of the shopping mall seems, finally, to be on the
wane. It is hard to put a favorable interpretation on most of
the data. But it is important to keep a sense of perspective. Some recent
figures look disappointing partly because they fall short of over-optimistic
forecasts -- a persistent weakness of those paid to predict the economic future,
no matter how often they are proved wrong. The Fed will be watching carefully
for further signs of weakness during the rest of the month. Mr. Greenspan is an
avid, even obsessive, consumer of economic data. He has made it clear that the
Fed stands ready to reduce interest rates again if it judges it necessary--even
after 12 cuts in the past two years. At its last meeting, though, when it kept
rates on hold, the Fed signaled that it did not expect to need to reduce rates
any further. Monetary policy still offers the best short-term
policy response to weak economic activity, and with inflation low the Fed still
has scope for further relaxation. President Bush's much-vaunted fiscal stimulus
is unlikely to provide appropriate help, and certainly not in a timely
way.
单选题American women were ______ the right to vote until 1920.
单选题Peter: ______ Cathleen: Do you know that place next to the travel agency on South Street? Peter: Sure. I'll go and have a look.
单选题(The Chinese) were the first and (large) ethnic(种族) group (to work) on the construction (of) the transcontinental railroad system.
单选题It is absolutely necessary for us to have sufficient oxygen if we ______ to go on living. A. are B. were C. had D. having
单选题Speaker A: What shall we do this weekend?Speaker B: How about going to London on Saturday? There's a good exhibition on at the Royal Academy.Speaker A: ______ Shall we get the coach or the train?